EVE Online Is Selling Horse Armour. In Space.

It's been over five years since Horse Armor, and still, developers and publishers are struggling with how much to charge for downloadable content. Just ask EVE Online developers CCP. They've got no idea.

A new EVE Online store opened this week (along with major new updates like an interactive "Captain's Quarters"), with a new currency to go along with it, allowing players to purchase "vanity items" for their shiny, impressive new character portraits. While CCP admirably have said that the new store would not allow microtransactions to be purchased that impact gameplay in any way, the stuff that is on offer has to be seen to be believed.

At the current going rate, using the existing currency (ISK) and transferring it to this new currency (PLEX), a skirt for your avatar costs $US20. A blouse is $US25. A space monocle costs $US68. As Massively points out, many of the items on sale are going for more than their real-world counterparts would in a store, making it only more tragic.

While none of this stuff is compulsory in any way, and is targeted at EVE tragics who have more money than sense, you'd think CCP would have been a little more subtle about fleecing the devoted.

Comments

If it doesn't have any impact on the gameplay, then let them charge whatever the hell they like. The only people who lose out of this will be the suckers stupid enough to buy it (who deserve to get fleeced), or CCP themselves if it turns out there aren't actually any suckers out there stupid enough to buy it.

From what I understand you can use the in came currency to buy these things so it doesn't directly cost you anything. Though as you can use the in came currency to also buy game time there is an opportunity lost cost unless you are already making more ISK per month then it costs to buy game time for one month.

At some point, someone must spend money for these things. I'll try to briefly summarize the (legitimate) RMT in Eve:

Player buys 30 day game time extension for $15 or so. Player receives a PLEX item.

Item may be redeemed for game time, OR it may be converted to an in-game inventory item, also called PLEX for continuity.

PLEX may then still be converted to game time. It may also be sold, on in-game market, for ISK.

Another player may thus spend ISK, buy game time that was purchased with someone else's real money, and then cash in the game-time.

Now, also, PLEX may be broken into Aurum, which are used to buy the vanity items. ISK may never directly buy vanity items. ISK only can buy in-game PLEX. Also, Aurum cannot be traded between accounts currently.

To those who say 'Let them charge what they like', fine, but be prepared for the negative backlash. CCP is still smarting in the Eve community from last summer's PR disaster (18 months, quality does not sell units more than quantity, etc).

There is a strong perception amongst Eve players who've been paying attention that CCP's focus is less on internet spaceships and more upon upcoming projects - that's fine, they have a right to pursue more than one revenue stream. What irks is that Eve now seems to be in a stasis pod - it's not getting thrown on life support, but they're not really doing anything major to improve it (shiny new graphics aside).

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